


Amid the Juniberries

by enemytosleep



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Grief/Mourning, Knives and Space Wolves, Moving On, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 14:37:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17123228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enemytosleep/pseuds/enemytosleep
Summary: One year after the end, they meet again.





	Amid the Juniberries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Haleykim84 (tristen84)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tristen84/gifts).



> **Warnings:** season eight spoilers, also my first Voltron fic so that’s scary  
>  **Notes:** Written for the 2018 Fandom_Stocking exchange on Dreamwidth. This was inspired by a comic by [gaysony](https://www.instagram.com/gaysony/), which you can find [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BrehmpCglrO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link).

Keith crested the hill to the memorial, already knowing who he’d see there. Kosmo whined quietly next to him. Keith buried his hand deep in the wolf’s mane and scratched the side of his neck for a moment. Then, he huffed out a deep breath through his nose, shoved his hands into his pockets, and strode with purpose toward Allura’s statue. Kosmo followed, his heavy paws unnaturally quiet on the metal stairs.

“Hey,” Keith said, hoping it sounded casual.

Lance turned his head and hardly met Keith’s gaze. “Hey.” 

Today was the first time the entire team would all be in one place, all of them back on Altea; Lance’s thoughts were clearly elsewhere, and Keith knew where. Hell, everyone did. It was the one year anniversary, after all, and Keith wasn’t expecting any of them to seem good, normal, whatever you wanted to call it — he knew none of them would ever be the same after everything that had happened. Still, he supposed he’d been hoping that Lance would have healed more since they last were together, when it all was too fresh to really process. It didn’t seem like much had changed for Lance. 

“So,” Keith drawled. “How’s Earth?”

“It’s good.” 

“Good.”

Lance was still staring at the marble face that towered over them both. “How’s Diabazaal?” 

“Good.” _Stop being shitty, Keith. You know how to get through to him._ “The Blade has really made some progress with the outreach program.”

“That’s good.”

Keith took a moment to find his next words, quietly eying Lance as he did so. “Hunk told me you and your family started farming? How’s that been?” It wasn’t what he’d meant to ask, but it was a start.

“Yeah. Kinda weird I guess, but after everything that’s happened … I don’t know. It kind of feels right, being with family.”

He placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed, waiting until Lance actually looked at him. “It’s not weird, Lance.”

“Yeah.” Lance gave him a half-smile. Something hurt deep in Keith’s chest.

“Did they finish building the park, then?” Keith asked, tilting his head to indicate the greenery around them. Lance nodded, looking broken. Keith knew he had been heavily involved with the park planning, and the team had let Lance lead the endeavor without question. “Show me.” 

Lance pressed his eyes closed for a moment and swallowed something down. “Okay, come on.” He did not seem at all enthused, but Keith knew he needed to get Lance moving, doing something, anything besides drowning himself in the past beside her memorial.

A year ago, when the cosmic dust had settled, the paladins had emerged from beyond the veil not knowing what reality they’d find there. They’d only been somewhat shocked to discover that their reality remained intact and had only been slightly altered. They’d learned that in this timeline, Altea had never been destroyed. The same for Diabazaal. It was a damn shame that Allura had suffered that loss in so many realities, including this reality thousands of years before, only to then lose the chance to see her people reborn. She should have been here to lead them, but she wasn’t, and a memorial park in her honor seemed too little an offering. Keith felt like shit whenever he thought about it, and he could only imagine what being here made Lance feel.

They walked in silence through the groves of juniberry flowers that had been planted in her honor. Kosmo sniffed the air with deep interest, lazily following the pair. Lance hardly seemed to notice his surroundings. Keith bumped Lance’s shoulder with his own.

“You know you can always talk to me if you need to, right?”

Lance stopped walking. “Yeah. Of course. I—“ He looked away, clenched his jaw. 

The words started spilling out of Keith at the sight. “You’ve been there for me, Lance. So many times.” Keith squared to face him head on, his arms folded across his chest, Kosmo now pressed up against his side. “I didn’t believe I had what it took to lead the team, but you were there to tell me I was wrong every time I needed you to. And, well, I’ll always be there for you, too.”

“To tell me I’m wrong?” Lance said, the barest hint of a laugh in his voice.

“Well, yeah, I’m always happy to tell you that.”

Lance rolled his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head. “Hot-head Keith and his infamously good judgement to the rescue once again.”

Keith laughed back. “Listen, we’re all worried about you. _I’m_ worried about you. I know that you’re probably feeling a lot of things. You feel empty, you feel so full of hurt that everything is painful, every thought, every breath.”

“Yeah…”

“Grief is weird like that. It comes in waves. I know that sometimes you miss them so much that all you can feel at all is the pain of them being gone. The weirdest things would remind me of my dad, sometimes out of nowhere.” Lance was looking at him now, really looking at him. “I remember when Shiro disappeared, back when I was still at the Garrison … it felt like all I had left _was_ the pain, and I was afraid that if I stopped living in it, that I’d lose what I had left of him. That he’d really be gone forever. It’s stupid. It sucks.”

Lance’s eyes were glistening, but he did not look away from Keith.

“I know better than a lot of people how holding onto that pain can damage you. I can tell you that you will _always_ have a special place in your heart for Allura. I do — we all do. She will always have a place in her heart for you, too.” Keith reached out and grabbed Lance’s shoulders. “But Lance, you need to stop living in the past. You have to let go of this pain. It’s not what Allura would have wanted. When we first met her, she’d lost more than we could ever really know, but she never let that stop her from moving forward for a better future. This … it’s not what the Lance I know would have wanted. That guy always pushed the team to be better.”

Tears streaked down Lance’s face, and he tried to cover them with his own hands. “I’m sorry, Keith. I don’t know what I’ve been doing. I just —” 

Keith reached up and ran a thumb over Lance’s cheek. Allura had left her mark on Lance: two small sickles in a pale shade of blue. The Mark of the Chosen, whatever that really meant. “I need my right hand man back.”

In truth, Keith had needed him for a long time, but he was never good at saying these things, or even admitting them to himself; by the time he’d begun to realize, Lance and Allura had found happiness together, and Keith would have never intervened. He cared too much for them both. Allura had given them her faith, her leadership; they never would have been paladins of Voltron if not for her — and Lance, who’d started as a dorky try-hard, but then the trying became doing, and Lance was out there leading the team with him. Lance, the goofball who could make Keith laugh, even when the weight of the universe was on their shoulders. Lance, the sharpshooter who had honed his skills with intense practice, which was impressive and inspiring and something they all could learn from. Lance, who had become Keith’s right-hand man. Who was dependable, trust-worthy, and more of a leader than he would ever give himself credit for. Keith needed Lance, as a friend, as a paladin … but he needed him in other ways too. He brought out the best in Keith, made him realize his own worth. Keith loved him. He could admit that to himself now. 

Keith squeezed the back of Lance’s arm, and then Lance closed the distance between them, engulfing Keith in his long arms. Keith hesitated for half a second before hugging him back, wrapping his own arms around Lance and burying his face into his collarbone. Lance’s face was wet against Keith’s forehead, and they stood there, each of them holding onto the other strongly and saying nothing. 

Then Kosmo shoved his large snout into Keith’s ribs and whimpered softly, trying to butt in on the affection. Keith moved one hand to pat the wolf’s head, but evidently it wasn’t enough and Kosmo shouldered them both, yipping excitedly. Lance pulled away from Keith, but left one arm around his shoulders fingering the ends of Keith’s hair. “You know, your mullet got really long—“

Kosmo pounced from his play bow, knocking them both into the flower beds as he covered Keith in slobber. Keith laughed and wrestled the wolf as Lance sat himself up, laughing in earnest now.

“Thank you, Keith.”


End file.
